By Don Rucker M.D./ National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT If you’ve heard me speak in the past few months, you’ll know that the focus of my remarks is primarily on ONC’s mission to achieve nationwide interoperability and reduce clinician burden relative to health IT. I emphasize these areas because they are absolutely critical to the health of Americans…

By Dr. Pawan Jindal, Founder, MyMipsScore Twitter: @MyMipsScore Over the last decade, billions of American tax payer dollars have been spent to achieve “interoperability” in healthcare. Has it worked? The answer depends on who you ask. However, everyone agrees that we have a long way to go. In this article, I will discuss how FHIR® might be the definite answer to this billion…

A common sense approach to achieving health information interoperability By Genevieve Morris / Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act), signed into law in December 2016, calls on the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to work with federal partners, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the healthcare and…

PCDH Launch Lays Foundation for HIEs to Support Better Patient Care by Making It Possible to Deliver Patient Medical Record Alerts Across the Country The Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) (@SHIEClive), a collaborative representing health information exchanges (HIEs), announced the national launch of the Patient Centered Data Home™ (PCDH) initiative, a nationwide initiative coordinated by SHIEC’s HIE members, including…

By Teresa Rivera, President and CEO of UHIN Twitter: @UHIN_HIE Twitter: @uhinteresa When you think of health information exchange (HIE), you probably envision doctors receiving hospital admission and discharge alerts, or accessing critical medical records. But physicians and hospitals are only part of the healthcare continuum. Interoperability extends to myriad organizations in which patients experience care. Here in Utah, for example, Gold…

The Department of Health and Human Services released the draft Trusted Exchange Framework, a significant step towards achieving interoperability, as required by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016. The draft Trusted Exchange Framework, issued by HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) (@ONC_HealthIT), advances Congress’ intent that building and maintaining trust is an important core…

By Nancy Pratt, Chief Operating Officer, AirStrip Twitter: @AirStripmHealth This past year, 2017, has been a challenging year for many industries, and healthcare is certainly no exception. Not only are there major challenges connected to an increasingly aging population and outdated healthcare infrastructure, but the industry is also adapting to the policies associated with a new presidential administration. While technology will continue to be…

By Dr. Pawan Jindal, Founder, MyMipsScore Twitter: @MyMipsScore In a previous blog on HL7® FHIR® and MIPS, I reviewed the basics of FHIR and how it can be leveraged to design a robust reporting platform that can go way beyond supporting MIPS. The key differentiator of FHIR from any previous standards used in the healthcare is the portability of FHIR “resources”. As outlined…

Healthcare Organizations are Exchanging More than 1.7 Million Clinical Documents per Month through Carequality During The Sequoia Project’s (@sequoiaproject) Annual Meeting, one of its key initiatives, Carequality, reported tremendous growth since it became operational in July of 2016. To date, more than 1,000 hospitals, 25,000 clinics, and 580,000 health care providers are connected through the Carequality interoperability framework. To put…

By Genevieve Morris / Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT , & Liz Palena Hall / Policy Analyst and Nurse Advisor, ONC Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT National Health IT Week offers an annual opportunity to promote awareness of the value of health IT and to highlight progress made across the healthcare ecosystem. National Health IT Week took place this year from October…

By Steven Posnack, M.S., M.H.S. / Director, Office of Standards and Technology Twitter: @ONC_HealthIT Steven’s Twitter: @HealthIT_Policy The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is announcing that the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has successfully demonstrated that its testing method, as part of the Immunization Integration Program (HIMSS-IIP), can serve as an alternative to the current National Coordinator-approved…

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